Living in a Cereal World

I thought for sure I'd shared this one already but I looked it up and there were two other banana breads, but not this one. That's what happens when you have so many banana bread recipes (I have a lot of banana bread recipes). This one is the best banana bread and I don't even add the Streusel-Nut Topping. I think it's the addition of ginger which gives a zing I don't get from any of the other ones. Huh. Wait. This one doesn't list the ginger. Let me look again. Okay, it's supposed be 1/4 tsp. cinnamon, 1/4 tsp. nutmeg, and 1/8 tsp. ginger. I wonder why the discrepancy. I might still be wrong on the cinnamon. I'll have to go look it up in my recipe stash and amend this later. But anyway, it's the spice combination that makes this banana bread spectacular. And it almost came out of the pan in one piece this time. Almost. Close enough.

I could've sworn I'd added this one already but apparently not. Lemon and Parmesan Crusted Salmon. I have no idea how I found this one; you know how you're looking for one recipe and come across something entirely different... So no recipe is totally foolproof but this one's pretty easy. All you have to do is mix the ingredients together, pat them down on the salmon, and cook the salmon 'til your preferred measure of doneness. And the hint of lemon and tinged nuttiness of the Parmesan can also contribute to a delicious salmon salad sandwich the next day! ***** Ok, I really need to find something breakfast-related next time. I have three things in the pipeline, it's just a matter of getting to them.

Well, maybe a little problem when you don't read the recipe thoroughly. I remind myself of this all the time and still things come up. I swear I read this recipe four or five times before I got started. Oh, I should probably link to it now: No-Bake Summer Lasagna. I guess you could also call it a deconstructed lasagna. There's not that much work involved, except to get everything set up for the lasagna assembly line. And cutting up the vegetables, which I failed to notice with regard to the grape tomatoes. I had to take the pan off the stove and get to halving, while avoiding splattering tomato juices. But it's a good idea, anyway, to layer noodles, cheeses, zucchini, and tomatoes. The two things I suggest are to spread the cheese on the noodles so you don't get too many dry bites and, most important, make sure you season well. The success of this dish really comes down to seasoning. I thought the zucchini and basil was the best part.

I've overlooked Great Grains for years; it always struck me as a boring, healthy cereal my dad would eat. A few weeks ago I just happened to notice the Cranberry Almond Crunch flavor--well, I thought to myself, I can tolerate almonds and there aren't too many cereals these days with cranberries, so I could stand to try it. And while my original assumption isn't too far off, it isn't terrible. Really, the only issue I have is a lack of sweetness. It'll take a second bowl to really wrap my taste buds around it but it's good enough to serve my purpose, which is to mix with other cereals.

...this past week's heat wave, that is. That's about the only thing it was good for. So we made these Teriyaki Pineapple Turkey Burgers, which we hadn't had in two summers. You may have come across these; Dole advertises them every year and they're right on the front page of the website. When it comes to grilling turkey burgers you have to be careful not to overcook them because they will dry out fast . It does help to have melty cheese and a juicy pineapple ring, though. And even though the recipe doesn't call for it, I always put a little mayo on my bun. I don't like dry bread. Oh, and I cut the recipe in half (seriously; what do I need with eight turkey burgers?) but I think we could've used more teriyaki sauce for basting purposes.

Really, what is with these product names lately? They're getting so detailed you might as well put the Nutrition Facts on the front of the box. But on to the cereal. It wasn't quite what I was expecting. The flakes have a sweet crunchy coating like Raisin Bran Crunch, the better to adhere the flaxseeds. I guess the alternative would be a bunch of flaxseeds in the bottom of the box; I can see why that would be unappealing. I counted about three per flake; I guess they really want you to notice them. My one complaint is mostly my fault--due to not shaking up the box first I ended up with a bowl of Two-Raisin Bran. Oh, and there's a little bit of a flax-y aftertaste, which doesn't bother me but if this your introduction to flaxseed I just wanted to give you a heads up. I think next time around I'll just try sprinkling flaxseed on my regular raisin bran and see what happens.

So I came across this recipe by accident while searching for another one and I thought, "Why haven't I made this before?" Spinach Orzo. There was chicken in the picture, and we were going to be grilling chicken anyway, so I put two and two together. Last year's goal of trying one new recipe a week seems to have fallen by the wayside but it wouldn't hurt to try more than one a month. Sheesh. But on to the finished product. I cut the recipe in half since I didn't need eight servings. That wasn't an issue. And prep was pretty simple, too. Slice up some fresh spinach, shred some carrots. The only thing, as usual, was not salting and peppering to everyone's tastes. Which is why one should just put salt and pepper on the table and not be insulted. It's just not something we ever did in my family growing up, so I never think of it. But yeah, try this. It was a nice change of pace of us and we needed to eat that orzo, anyway.

From the makers of Corn Flakes, Cocoa Krispies, and Chocolatey Delight Special K comes...a way for Kellogg's to use technology/products it already has. I don't know why I was expecting new and innovative but the finished product really isn't that bad. It has a nice chocolatey aroma. There's plain corn flakes and chocolate-coated ones, which I honestly didn't notice on the box. There's almond slices. And there's the little chocolatey-pieces from the aforementioned Special K. If you're a chocolate-lover but want to try a more grown-up cereal, you'll probably like this one. I'm not, so I took out the little pieces but left the flakes. It's actually a nice mixture. I wonder, though, based on the name, if there isn't going to be another variety introduced down the road. If you check out the website of the actual Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, there's other flavors Kellogg's could draw from, like, say, pecan and caramel. Hint. (

Or rather, who doesn't want ice cream sandwiches? You, put your hand down. Anyway, I made ice cream sandwiches with store-bought cookies last weekend for entertainment purposes, which reminded me that I hadn't made any from scratch in a long while (the cookies, not the ice cream. I'm not that much of a DIY-er). And these oatmeal cookie ice cream sandwiches are the best . I think I've only seen maybe three episodes of "Down Home with the Neelys" and that's one of them. There's so much to like about these cookies: they come out flat, which is perfect for sandwich-making; they're huge , which is perfect for feeding large men who otherwise wouldn't go near an ice cream sandwich; and they're delicious, which is probably most important! A note on the flavor--the main difference between these and, say, the typical Quaker ones is that it omits vanilla extract in favor of allspice. I can't really put the flavor into words; I want to say &qu

I foresee yet another busy week so I thought I'd better do this now. This was the first granola I tried a few years back when I decided to test granola in my yogurt. I just wanted something basic with a simple flavor and no weird ingredients. It's very crunchy, almost like it's over-baked but not in a bad way. And the no-frills honey flavor makes it good for mixing, like I just did with the blueberry pomegranate cereal  I reviewed last week. Or, you know, just put it straight in the yogurt if you don't want too many conflicting tastes.

I didn't think I'd be able to carve out the time to blog today but here I am, so... I was out of town for a night, so, as I usually do, I picked up some yogurt for breakfast the next morning. What I didn't know was that Kroger doesn't sell singles of my brand, so I had to substitute. I decided to go with Kroger's brand of lite yogurt--which shall henceforth be known as Krogurt, because it's funnier--and cross my fingers. The ingredients were comparable and the price was reasonable, also a bonus. The round container was more conducive to pouring in granola; the color of the strawberry banana Krogurt was darker. I think the flavor was more on the strawberry side. Whatever; the important thing was that it didn't upset my stomach. Speaking of which--well, okay, this actually doesn't really have anything to do with that--I just tried Total's new cinnamon raisin bread. It's not a swirled bread so it doesn't have a whole lot of flavor. But if yo

I'm sure I've mentioned this before but I'll bring it up again: sometimes I like to mix granola with Archer Farms cereals and eat that with my yogurt. I was in the mood for something different--and on a blueberry kick--when I bought this cereal a few weeks back. I already knew from their berry granola (my mind is drawing a blank on the exact name) that I liked the dried blueberries. I'm so-so on the flavor of pomegranate; in this cereal it's in the oat clusters and pairs well with the berries. I mixed it with what I would consider a "neutral" granola but I'm going to cheat and review that half next time. Actually, I don't know when next time's going to be. I have a busy holiday weekend coming up. How do I keep getting myself into these situations? To be continued...